Is Limewire illegal?

I just have one question to ask you and i dont know if you know but you are the only site that talked about this subject that was close enough and had a part where i could write a question. Is the Limewire an illegal website? My cousin tells me that he has downloaded limewire but this was over a year ago and he says it is illegal but I have told him that it would have been shut down if it is illegal and it has been around that long. If you download this you can get free music,videos and etc. So is it illegal??? The website were you can download it is www.limewire.com

This is a very interesting question because it points to a subtlety of copyright law and also highlights how the enabling software for illegal infringement of copyright can itself be neutral, that is, used for either good or bad purposes.
In a nutshell, Limewire and similar “peer to peer” or p2p file sharing tools (BitTorrent is another popular tool) are perfectly legal and there’s no prohibition on distributing the applications or having them on your computer.
However, just as having a magnet that could influence the wheels in a slot machine could sway you to using it illegally, so having software like Limewire can influence and encourage you to receive downloads of audio and video content that is indeed illegally distributed.
Here’s how the Limewire folk respond to this question:
“Copyright laws and laws pertaining to patents and inventions protect original works of authorship and inventions. Individuals who reproduce, distribute copies, receive copies, publicly perform or display works or inventions other than their own and without the consent of the owners or holders of rights, or their authorized agents, in original works of authorship or inventions, may be in violation of copyright, patent or other intellectual property infringement. Lime Wire LLC does not encourage or condone the illegal copying of copyrighted material. This is not intended to be legal counsel or advice. If you have any questions, consult your attorney.”
Of course, try downloading the Limewire application from their site and you’ll find you have to answer a question that highlights that they are well aware of its most common use:

Indicate that you “might” use it and your download fails with the error “Lime Wire LLC does not distribute LimeWire BASIC to people who intend to use it for purposes of copyright infringement.”
Pardon my skepticism. It’s like MySpace forgetting to warn you that the majority of people who sign up for an account inevitably lie about their ages.
Anyway, let me show you how incredibly easy it is to find illegal content to download before you dismiss what I’m saying.
I agreed on the download page that I wouldn’t use Limewire to access copyright infringing material, downloaded it, and started it up on my Mac. Then I popped over to Amazon.com and randomly picked one of the top selling audio CDs in their music store, the new album All The Roadrunning by talented artists Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris.
I then typed in “mark knopfler” into the search box on Limewire and waited no more than 90 seconds to find:

Click for full size image

That wasn’t hard, was it? And clearly the songs from the album that are shown in Limewire aren’t legal copies distributed by either the musicians or their label to increase sales of the original CD.
To be fair, with some file sharing systems I do believe that the people who would, for example, download a 350 page illegally scanned PDF of a book aren’t the people who would have bought it in the store, but audio content is a different story because with iPods, Windows Media Player, and related, you only ever touch the audio CD once, then it’s ripped on your computer(s) and can vanish. Now the content’s digital and it’s incredibly easy to ‘share’ it with your friends and the Internet community at large. Even though it’s not legal to do so.
Nonetheless, going back to your original question, Limewire is not illegal, but I do honestly believe that the majority, if not vast majority, of its users are utilizing the application to distribute and download illegal content onto their computer, be it “cam recordings” of the latest movies, dupes of commercial DVDs, music, or other materials.
In the end, I’d like to suggest that it’s up to each of us to decide how important new content, original materials and creative works are to our society and world. If you have no compunction ripping off artists and musicians, then at least think about the long-term implications of producing expensive movies and related but never recouping the cost and being profitable.

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I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by
buying you a cup of coffee!

280 comments on “Is Limewire illegal?”

common misconception it is illegal to use peer 2 peers for downloading copy righted material but the only people that can ever be charged are those uploading the content not those downloading because with downloading all you have to say it “i thought it was a mix-tape” and they can’t charge you, well they can it is just more trouble than it’s worth

Listen up! Stop using Limewire, and if you really need that one song so bad, but don’t want to pay $1 for it on itunes, type the name of the song in, then the name of the artist, then type in mediafire. It almost always comes up with a download. Unless if the cops are looking for you, or you are on their watch list, you will not get caught. The way P2P sites and limewire works, is by sending your ip packet to the uploader, so that you can download pieces of the file. (it’s more technical than that) The Authority’s can see your ip packet as you are downloading your music, then they will contact your ISP about your downloading. with mediafire you are normally downloading a file. By law your ISP cannot give out your download list or information to anyone without your express written consent, unless if their is a warrent to watch your downloading. (highly unlikely unless you are a known criminal) It’s kind of funny how the law helps you to break the law

the us govt has now hired a software writhing co. to protect govt. confidential informantion. The movie and music industries have joined and support this soon to be law. Downloading (stealing in any way from any site) woll be against the law and a penalty (I heard) is l year in prison and $10,000 dollar fine for each offense. Keep track of this law is you are stealing from artists because you could be paying for it in a very severe manner. Just for your info. I am following this daily. and totally support it.

Addition-do you think the media,owned by supporters of SOPA who are most harmed by file sharing sites are intentionally ignoring this story in thier own self interest?Every American who uses file sharing sites has seen what’s happening yet news wise,nothing.The DOJ seizes Megaupload.The media ignores it.Who’s gonna fight this?Bloggers and people like you are the only ones left.You,and your friends need to get this story out.

Dave-it’s a week since Megaupload and the internet has regressed 15 yrs as far as the availablity of files available for download at filesharing sites.Legal,illegal,it doesn’t matter.Some sites have quarantined the U.S. altogether while others have removed just about every file I’ve tried.Megaupload defendants are being held without bail like they committed murder,thier business has been shutdown.So much for innocent till proven guilty,huh?SOPA?We don’t need no stinkin SOFA.This seems to me to be a big story.The media has completely ignored what is happening.What are your thoughts?

Dave-the more i look into this the more I see this as the death of the internet as we knew it.Maybe megaupload was one of the biggest offenders offering illegal content of all the file sharing sites but obviously,google provides links to all sites. so google,common sense would dictate,provides more access to illegal or copywrited files than any site.I’d love to see the DOJ shut down google.These gutless feds.Every file on megaupload and every other site can be linked to thru google.Which makes Google,by far,the biggest source of illegal downloads in the world.Geez,am I wrong?

Dave-I’m not saying youtube harbors anywhere near the volumn of illegal content compared to a site like megaupload.What I’m saying is that youtube definatly does make available,no matter how they police it,the same copywrite protected material that a site like megaupload does.It’s like comparing someone who murders one person to a serial killer.Anyway you look at it both defendants committed the same crime.The DOJ siezed and shutdown megaupload.Youtube,granted,at a much less agregous level makes available illegal copywrited content for download.Is this the DOJs 1st attack in a greater war to end filesharing?After all,no site that allows free uploading can possibly police all content.Shouldn’t authorities be policing the illegal uploaders,not the site itself as long as the site shows a good faith effort to remove illegal content?Will the feds now look to see who downloaded files from megaupload?Should American citizens who downloaded copywrited music,movies etc from megaupload be worried that now they could get a knock on the door.We’ve all heard the horror stories.What’s the fine per song downloaded.Is the seizing and shutdown of megaupload the endgame.Or can the feds now look at downloads and show up at peoples doors?Youtube.Megaupload.There are no degrees of difference.Kill one person.Kill 10.You get charged with murder.The DOJ could sieze and shutdown youtube,google,yahoo and pretty much every file sharing site anytime they want.These sites are no different then Megaupload.Just different degrees of hosting illegal content.Tricky?So how much effort does a site need to make to be legal?Yeah,youtube,google etc have tremendous resources to police illegal content.I never heard of megaupload before today but they’re pretty big,huh?Unless they make no effort to remove illegal material we’re talking about who harbors more illegal content.It would seem to me that it’s in the best interests of the DOJ and the file sharing sites to expose and prosecute the UPLOADERS of illegal content.The freedom of the web is at stake here.Did megaupload make a good faith effort?I wouldn’t know.That’s why i ask you.But again,i ask,if my effort isn’t as effective as yours,should I be shut down and arrested while you stay in business?

I don’t have a statistical analysis in front of me, Pete, but I have to say that I think comparing YouTube to Megaupload is a bit weak. YouTube has a large team and some very sophisticated software in place to identify and automatically delete any uploads that are of known copyrighted material, even so far as to delete home videos with recognizable music that’s not licensed.
Megaupload, like The Pirate Bay, seems to exist solely — or pretty close to it — to act as a harbor for illegally copied and shared content, whether it’s software, audio, video files, or licensed books, etc. Hardly the same thing, and I’ve never heard of MUL or any similar site doing ANY policing of content, though they might well have a steady stream of DMCA takedown requests from the RIAA, MPAA, etc. I doubt they respond, however.
It’s a tricky situation, I’m the first to admit, and while I think the problem is legitimate and cost quite significant, I also believe that the intention of SOPA/PIPA is positive but the wording itself was weak and too open to interpretation.

Dave- what does megaupload do that youtube doesn’t?Isn’t the genie already out of the bottle?yesterday we saw politicians jump ship when they saw the backlash,today the DOJ siezed megaupload.Will the feds,like with limewire,now start showing up at the door of US citizens who used megaupload to download some of the same things they can get at youtube?What’s the difference?Is megaupload just more illegal then youtube?Is this just the start of the DOJ siezing any file sharing site that offers copywrited material?The Obama administration and congress have already shown a complete disregard for the constitution with the recent law allowing indefinite detention of US citizens without charges or a trial.Did they just go after megaupload because they didn’t have the guts to go after youtube?Most of us don’t really understand what’s going on here.Please respond at length to todays megaupload shutdown.

I ought to add to this rant that the main reason concert tickets are soooo expensive is because of people illegally downloading albums. The artists lose out on album sales, so the price of concert tickets goes up. So very interesting listening to Abi’s perspective there! Pay for downloading music if you ever want concert prices to come down, if for no other reason, because without it, they never will.

Abi, you are an idiot! So you’re basically saying that you go to see all these acts in concert, but you rip off their music illegally? LOL, that’s the most insulting thing I’ve ever head. It’s only £6.99 for most chart CDs from bangcd.com but you’ll pay fortunes for ticket$, but not a pittance for a nice CD and a case which you can rip and put into itunes. You still have the hard copy when your computer and hard drives crash! One thing you’ve revealed is that the only reason you pay for the concerts is that you can’t get them for free. If you could, you’d be illegally attending those too. Leech. Buy the music and support the artist. I’d ban you from coming in if you turned up at my venue to see my band play, ticket or no ticket. You’re doing nothing for the music industry whatsoever. All you’re doing is supporting the live circuit – because you HAVE TO. And btw, you don’t spend mor money on music than I do and I rarely attend concerts, but either buy a CD or downloads a new album every week. Now YOU do the math!

dave-today the feds siezed megaupload based in hong kong.will they now be able to find out who downloaded illegal copyrighted material here in the U.S?Should anyone be worried here about what they downloaded on megaupload?

Gary, I think you’d be covered under Fair Use Doctrine if you own the albums and just want to rip the music so you can listen to it on your iPod. Sharing it with your friends, not good. Posting it online for others to download, definitely not good. Selling it? Yeah, now you’re in some seriously hot water…

If I copy my records, 12 inch 33 RPM, 1950 records and put them on an iPo,d am I violating any copyright laws ?
I am 72 and have a couple hundred albums. I realize that I can not sell or distribute any copies of these albums but can I use copies of these albums without fear of getting into a legal battle?

Pete… wow, the most disturbing part of what you said is that you are 99% true… Where are the morals… kiddy porn, easy, free songs, you get sued. Wgat in the world… it shows just how depraved and how low this world has sunk. The truth is that even the law makers will not say the truth… if money is not lost they will not take action… a terible way to view thiings… Pete you are 100% right.

Hi there. I find it both that Bittorent and LimeWire, now ThePirateBay also to be illegal sites in USA. They are blocked and banned from my computer at home. So I do prefer to BUY the actual thing, save up for the item you want. Itunes is LEGAL, because you are PAYING for the item you download from your credit card service or paypal.. But other sites are banned for downloading.. Only problem is.. how do I remove Windows DVD maker from Windows 7? I think Windows DVD maker is illegal as well. Because you can burn AVI files on the DVD-Rs but however, it is still illegal in the USA….. So I would ask your parents and teachers, and staff to BLOCK those sites for safety. A long time ago back when I had my old Compaq computer, it crashed and had virus due to the Internet Downloads. Just last year I got a brand new laptop and now we know NEVER TO DOWNLOAD ANYTHING THAT IS ILLEGAL… I did not know it at the time.. So now we have Programs like Norton, McAFee and K9 Web Protection programs installed, and they do work. There are other sites out there to download for protections. So please becareful. I only did this once, and never again…… I did not understand the US Law till after high school ^_^!

Staci, I would suggest that if there’s a question, assume that it’s illegal and a violation of the copyright. For example, a “free to download” copy of Avatar? Yeah, I’m pretty sure James Cameron didn’t give ‘em approval.
Pete, you bring up a good point. The complication with all the porn and community decency laws revolve around a bunch of things, notably including that most of the servers aren’t actually located in the United States, and are therefore not subject to US jurisdiction or US laws.

until recently i’d never heard of limewire or ever visited file sharing sites.earlier this yr my laptop was stolen from my car.i had my suspicions who took it and recently recovered it.it was full of child porn pics and vids downloaded from filesharing sites like letitbit,zoofile,generalfiles etc.i deleted them but after some research i took a hammer and destroyed a perfectly good 2 yr old windows 7 pc.i wasn’t gonna keep a ticking time bomb pc in my home.now,i’m all for free speech and porn is very popular on the net.no problem.but now, as i visit these filesharing sites its become very apparent that they are full of child porn.the most popular search term on zoofiles is pthc.that stands for preteen hardcore.so from what i understand,limewire was siezed and shutdown for allowing free downloads of copywrited music and movies among other things etc.i would assume that other sites have ceased this activity.yet they continue to exist and are actively distributing child porn.just search tara 8yo on any file site.i guess if its not copywrited and costing companies money its ok,huh?download a song gets you shutdown and get’s individuals sued.yet,in plain sight child porn is available everywhere.can’t get that song.want child porn.easy.where are our,and our government and law enforcement priorities.i’m discusted.i would like to hear responses to this.dave?

when u are downloading things off of lime wire how can tell if it is a copyright item??? i have made this mistake before and dont want to make the same mistake again is there a way you can tell before you download

THANKS DAVE – it would be nice if everyone thought about the bigger picture of the future of the entertainment industry. it would be even nicer if people thought about the bigger picture of the fate of humanity.
when most of the world population are chasing the tails of consumerism; wanting, needing, getting, having and have not.
and big business is happy to control as much as they can regardless of the consequences to smaller businesses and workers and cost of living.
governments dis-infom communities and contradict themselves – holding peace conferences while spending more money on war and weapons than it would cost to fix issues relating to poverty and suffering blah blah blah and all that stuff that seems to migrate behind the immediate awareness of most
why cant everyone stop chasing their tails and focus on a better outcome options for everyone – sustainable and comfortable – rather than suntan and convertible
thats right people you heard Dave Taylor –
“In the end, I’d like to suggest that it’s up to each of us to decide how important new content, original materials and creative works are to our society and world.” focus on the big picture dave good job

“PSEUDO-LEGAL” = IT”S CONSIDERED SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE BY THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE POPULATION, AND UNDERSTOOD AS SOMETHING THAT WILL NOT HAVE ANY PERSONAL CONSEQUENCES FOR THE DOWNLOADER.
ITS OBVIOUSLY LEGAL OTHERWISE SOME KIND OF AUTHORITY WOULD BE ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT RIGHT?? THATS WHAT EVERYONE THINKS.
IF POLICE STOPPED GIVING PEOPLE TICKETS FOR SPEEDING? OR NEVER DID TO BEGIN WITH?
IF THERE IS NO THOUGHT ABOUT LEGAL CONSEQUENCES TO THOSE WHO DOWNLOAD STUFF THEN IT’S A SOCIALLY ACCEPTED ILLEGAL PRACTICE. IT’S LIKE ONE OF THOSE OTHER FUNNY LAWS THAT THE COMMUNITY CHOOSES TO IGNORE EG: CLOTHESLINES ARE ILLEGAL IN Columbia, Missouri. LOL

Wow this is a really old article with a few years of comments. I guess not much had changed since the article was originally written.
How easy is it to convince a bunch of people who don’t have much money, not to take something that is easily available, but instead to go out and spend their money on something like a movie or music knowing the money is going to people who are understood to have so much more money than 95% of the population will ever have.
If there was a more reasonable balance between buying something and “financially helping movie stars and musicians” then maybe people might come around.
Until something changes … well nothing changes.

tbh if limewire or any other p2p sharing software was illegal then it would have been shut-down a long time ago and in my honest opinion limewire should have had better filters and not allow us to download the illegal material as how can we be then scrutinised for using the software if its there how can we get done for it its not very fair on the users at the end of the day.

downloading any material weather its via bit torrent or a p2p program is not illegal if you have a valid purchase of what your downloading.
for example you buy a dvd and want it for safe keepings you just download it. its the same situation with everything else. its called backup copies and these are allowed for personal use only not to be distributed,

Woah lots of comments!
anyway my opinion on this whole illegally downloading music thing is that this is probably justthe evolution of music!
they said that tapes was the end of the music business when they first came out… was it? NO
Infact 61% of people download music illegally but 46% of those people go out and buy the music after!
Also i saw a documentary about illegal downloading the other day and they said that most people who download illegally actually spend more money on the music industry a year than people who download legally as they are more likely to spend money on gigs and merchandise as they have a wider variety in music taste as they know more bands through illegally dowloading. Its more so a try before you buy case.
I personally illegally download but i probably spend more money on the music industry a year than alot of people. in the past 2 years i have been to SOOOO many gigs: glastonbury, V festival, T4 on the beach, Paramore, You me at six, Kasabian, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheerhan, Mike Dignam, Katy Perry, Take That, Enrique Iglesias, Adele, Jack Penate, White Lies, Florence and the Machine, Pixie Lott, Paloma Faith and Damien Rice!
Some of these people i wouldnt be interested in if it wasnt for P2P sharing as some of them arent played on the radio. Do the math, these gigs i have been to range from £20-£175. You do the math!
Also, Radioheads In rainbows album was available for free to the public or you could buy it, it was the publics choice and they ended up making more money than they had on their previous albums because of it! In my eyes, illegal downloading is a good thing as you are more likely to go to gigs (where artists get more money rather than producers and managers). I know at the end of the day its illegal and a ‘bad’ thing to do because it is basically stealing but i wouldnt be going to all those gigs and shelling out over £100 to see an artist or more if it werent for P2P sharing.

Relax folks, the model is changing rapidly and will soon be Artists making their material available for a reasonable cost (NOT $1 a song)and will not involve middlemen at all. The money you pay will go directly to the Artists that created the art and all the hangers-on and other assorted non-talented parasites will have to get real jobs. No more ripoffs from your local record store, too bad.

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